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Puppet Show backdrops

I've blogged about my library's puppet shows before, but just to catch you up, the youth services staffers here have been performing puppet shows for decades. Our puppet shows are extremely popular and one of our most reliably-attended programs other than storytimes. I really enjoy the creative and technological challenges involved in staging them and always look forward to the next production.

I'm required only to do puppet shows during winter and spring breaks but I have taken to the idea of doing them seasonally. In the summer, we kicked off the reading program with "Under the Sea Stories." I chose 3 short puppet scripts and wrote introductions to them delivered by a pirate puppet.

For Halloween, we performed"The Princess & The Pumpkin" which is a twist on "The Princess & the Pea" written by Marilyn Lohnes. I originally intended to write an additional scene but ran out of time. I'm a big fan of Lohnes' books (Fractured Fairy Tales, where this script is from, and Storytime Puppet Zoo, my favorite) because they include very simple puppet patterns which you can make in sew or no-sew (hot glue) variations. I hope she will write more!

There are six scenes in Lohnes's original script. I decided that the script necessitated 3 backdrops for how I wanted to stage it, but you could probably get away with one or two, depending on how you used props or relied on the audience's imagination. The play begins with a stormy night, continues in a bedroom, and then concludes on the next morning. I decided I want to show the exterior of the castle for the first and last scenes, and the interior for the bedroom.

First I sketched a basic idea of what I wanted my backgrounds to look like and then I looked to see what was available on the cartridges I already owned. Turns out, it was a lot, especially when you use a little creativitity and think about how else shapes could be used. Then I selected paper and made the cuts and assembled the backgrounds. Take a look!:

First backdrop (a stormy night):

Second backdrop (Inside a royal bedroom):

Last backdrop (sunny morning):

We just use posterboard for the backgrounds. I like that it is a hand/homemade approach. As a point of pride, I try to make as much of our materials as time allows. The look is less than polished, but we are not professional puppeteers either! My motto is "It doesn't have to be perfect! It just has to be done."
You could also use a Cricut to make puppets of paper or fabric, if you have the deep-cut blade. I would love to do The Nutcracker sometime, using the Paper Doll Dress Up cart for the puppets.

I like to do a lot of nursery rhymes with the parachute for a few reasons:Parents/kids are more likely to participate in activities where the content is already familiarI already know them so I don't have to learn a whole bunch of material at once (just being honest here)Easy for the families to replicate this activities at home with whatever props they might have. If they (or you!) don't have a parachute, a bed sheet or blanket can be substituted easily. Even a beach towel would work for one parent and one child to play together. This is my mean reason and I tried to hammer this in at all three programs I did the past two weeks! Parachute …

One of my favorite things to do in my library is create displays. I thought it might be helpful if I shared the calendar that I drew up to make sure I don't miss any of the "must-do" displays. It is so helpful if you can take people over to a seasonal display versus trying to look up in the catalog or find Easter books or whatever. I hope this helps any new librarians who might be overwhelmed by the process of marketing your collection!

As a general rule, I tend to keep displays up for about 3-4 weeks or if I run out of books all together. One tip I'd recommend if you have the space for multiple displays is to change one display in each space every week and rotate around the youth department like that. For example, one week you put up a new picture books display, then nonfiction, then YA/teen, etc. Don't forget to raid your CD and DVD collections for a multi-category display.

Here's one of my favorite parachute activities! I actually mentioned it a few months ago when talking about my summer parachute playtime but it's become a storytime staple since. We've been doing this here at my 2 and 3 year old storytimes and it's a great activity that I thought deserved its own post. I learned the song "Sleeping Bunnies" from Mary and I had the idea to adapt it to a parachute activity.

Here are the words:Sleeping BunniesSee the little bunnies sleeping til it's nearly noon. Come and let us gently wake them with a merry tune. Oh, how are still. Are they ill? Wake up soon. (Here I yell "WAKE UP BUNNIES!" and the kids shake the parachute.)